Breaking down barriers
Revolutionary service for ethnic minorities

CHESTERFIELD Borough Council will make history next month when it becomes the first public authority in the UK to launch TalkBack, a revolutionary telephone service for people from ethnic minorities.

The new service will mean that, for the first time, people with little or no English will have full access to a wide range of local public services.

“This council has pledged that it will provide equal opportunities for all its residents, no matter where they are from or what language they speak,” says Councillor Mick Brady, Deputy Leader of the Council. “TalkBack will enable us to turn this pledge into a reality.

“The costs are very low, but the possible benefits are significant. In any event, the scheme will be reviewed to assess its effectiveness, which is a basic principle that underlies all council functions for everyone.”

Members of ethnic minorities who do not speak English will dial a special TalkBack phone number connecting them to an interpreter who speaks their language. At the same time, the caller and interpreter are conferenced with a TalkBack officer, who finds out the caller’s needs. The caller and interpreter are then conferenced with an appropriate member of staff at the council.

“TalkBack means that, more than ever, our ethnic minority communities will have full and fair access to all council services and departments, just like everyone else,” adds Councillor Paul Vaughan, Lead Member for Housing and Community Safety. “We will be running a multilingual PR campaign across the borough to advertise the service to non-English speakers, and key members of staff will receive training on providing services through interpreters.

“We are confident that the new service will make a significant and lasting difference to relations between Chesterfield Borough Council and our ethnically diverse local population.”

The TalkBack service will be provided by Yorkshire-based communications company EITI, who are now expecting the service to be taken up by public service providers across the UK.

“This is a revolutionary service that has important applications throughout the public sector,” says Carolyn Burgess, EITI’s Managing Director.

“By law, public authorities have a duty to ensure that people from ethnic minorities have equal access to public services. However, until now, there has been no way for a non-English speaker to access these services by him or herself.

“When other organisations join TalkBack, non-English speakers will be able to use the service to report crime, get help with medical emergencies and even access 999 operators.”

Notes to editors
1. Chesterfield Borough Council will be launching TalkBack on 1 July 2002 in seven languages: Cantonese, Italian, Mandarin, Mirpuri, Polish, Punjabi and Urdu.
2. CBC’s Understanding Diversity Report action plan is being implemented by a steering group of BME representatives, CBC’s equal opportunities officer and the community housing department’s strategic services team.
3. EITI was founded in 1992 and is based in Howden, East Yorkshire. The company provides communications, interpreting and translation services to more than 500 UK public authorities.

June 2002